Silent All These Years
by akane-chan
Summary: Ranma and Akane's real feelings about interferrance


Ranma 1/2 

Silent All These Years

Disclaimer: All the characters portrayed in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi. They are pale comparisons to the real thing, but I tried my best. 

C&C are welcome, but please make it informative. If you didn't like it, don't just say it sucked. Tell me why you thought it sucked, so the next time, I can get it right. Anyway, the email is morriganfairre@hotmail.com. And the name is Amy. 

Part One: Here we go again

"We both know if we talk anymore

We are gonna end up in a great big fight

You can have your way again

Yeah you believe what you wanna believe

You can walk all over me tomorrow

But tonight can't we both just pretend to sleep"

-Everclear 'Thrift-Store Chair'

Akane Tendou looked out her window and groaned. They had just arrived home from school, and already they were at it again. She opened the window and leaned out. "Ranma, give it a rest!" She shouted. That idiot Ranma, she just knew that he had started something with poor Ryoga again.

She closed her window in a huff. "Oh, honestly." She pulled off her school uniform and began to change into her after school clothing when a strange creaking noise came from the ceiling. What the noise was became apparent when someone came crashing through her ceiling, landing on top of her and knocking her flat on her back. She looked up at the figure in surprise. 

Ranma Saotome brushed the chunks of ceiling out of his hair. "Damn, how'd he do that? Stupid Ryoga, what'd I do this time?" He muttered. Then he noticed a bristling blue aura in the air. "Huh?" Then he looked down and realized that he was atop a shirtless Akane. The blue light was from her battle aura. "Uh- er, I mean," He babbled, jumping up and trying to back away. His face turned red.

"RANMA, YOU PERVERT!" Akane's open palm met Ranma's cheek. Her cheeks were flushed and she held her shirt over her bare chest in embarrassment. She ignored the fluttering in her chest the usual Akane-style. "Get OUT of HERE!" Her mallet sent Ranma flying out of the very hole he had made. He landed into the pond and girl-type Ranma (or Ranma-chan) came up sputtering. He climbed out of the pond shouting at Akane, "Akane, wait! Let me explain!"

"NOT INTERESTED, RANMA! Go take a cold shower and stay OUT of my ROOM!" With that, Akane slammed the window shut again.

"Ranma, you CAD! How dare you sneak peeks at Akane! Have you no morals! I, Ryoga Hibiki, shall be glad to punish you! Prepare to die!"

Ranma-chan looked up. Ryoga was flying through the air; right towards her, his cement umbrella headed straight for her. Ranma-chan dodged the umbrella easily and smashed Ryoga with an uppercut. 

"It's your fault I landed on her in the first place, you jerk!" Ranma-chan protested. Ryoga fell into the water, and immediately turned into a small black pig. He still had on his yellow and black scarf. 

Ranma-chan picked up Ryoga. "Besides, it wasn't like I wanted to look at the uncute, violent cow. Her thighs are the size of Tokyo, and she acts like a boy. She looks like one with that short haircut. Why would I want to see that when there are better-looking girls more than willing to..." a huge boulder smashing into the side of her head cut her off. 

Ryoga squirmed out of Ranma-chan's hands. He bound towards Akane, but stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes. "A-Akane..."Ranma-chan said, and, realizing what Akane had overheard, she felt a strange feeling when she saw the hurt look on Akane's face.

"If that's the case, Ranma," Akane said quietly. "Then why don't you break off our engagement?" She tossed her the kettle of hot water that she had been bringing out to her. Ranma caught it wordlessly. "That way, you won't have to look at me anymore, and you could have all the fun with Shampoo and Ukyo all you want." She picked up Ryoga. "Come on, P-chan, let's get inside." She left without a backward glance.

Ranma poured the hot water over her head as Akane walked away. "Akane," He said quietly.

"So WHAT if I'm a tomboy," Akane asked P-chan as she sat him down on the bed then flung herself next to him. Then her anger dissolved. She burst into tears. "Oh, why does he have to be such a jerk? Am I really so ugly?" Ryoga/P-chan sniffed at her face then put his paws on her cheeks, trying to soothe her. 

"Maybe it's better this way." Akane told herself, sitting up and wiping her face. P-chan fell over. "I mean, if he doesn't like me anyway, then what's the big deal?"

Ranma came up outside of Akane's room. He heard her talking. He leaned over to hear what she was saying.

"I mean, he makes fun of me all the time, calling me uncute, and violent! We fight all the time. He doesn't even like talking to me! And he has two more fiancees, not counting Kodachi! If he really did care, then why doesn't he tell them to take a hike?"

Ranma frowned deeply.

"And he's always picking on you, P-chan! And Ryoga, and Mousse. Granted, sometimes they start things, but still, it's mostly his fault."

P-chan grunted in agreement at that.

"I mean, I know that our engagement was arranged and all." Akane continued, getting up and walking to her window, where the sun was being covered up by some dark clouds. "I know his father is selfish in not letting him choose. But... would marrying me be so awful? Am I really that bad?" She began to cry again, as if her heart was breaking. "It- it's just not fair, P-chan!"

Ranma backed away from the door, staring at it in amazement.

*--*

P-chan ran into the bathing room where Akane's father, Soun, was taking a relaxing hot bath before bed. He dived headfirst into the water and became Ryoga. "Curse you, Ranma Saotome! Making Akane cry over someone like you! You should be ashamed!" Soun looked at him wordlessly.

"AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Ryoga screamed. "I'll get you!" With that he took off out the doorway.

Ranma was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to fix this. He was walking along the fence. "Aw, man! Why'd she have to go and get all sad for? She knows I don't mean any of it." He stopped walking and looked around. "What should I do, anyway? I guess I'll probably have to apologize." Then he shook his head violently. "No way! I-it's probably just another trick or something, like the time she acted all hurt during the 'Romeo and Juliet' thing and then put tape on my mouth!" He put his hands behind his head and looked up. "Not that I wanted to or anything." Then he put his hands down and looked down. "I mean, well, I wouldn't have really minded it or nuthin'... why am I stressing out over this? And WHY am I talking to myself?" He knelt down and put his hand on his chin. 

"That way, you won't have to look at me anymore, and you could have your fun with Shampoo and Ukyo all you want." Akane's voice echoed in his head. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "

Ranma frowned and got up. He began running across the fence, trying to forget the look on her face.

"If he really did care, then why doesn't he tell them to take a hike?"

Ranma ran harder.

"...Would marrying me be so awful? Am I really that bad..."

Ranma was running so fast, he ran into Shampoo on her bike. "Aiya, Ranma, where you go in such hurry? You want go date with Shampoo, yes?" The lovely Amazon latched onto Ranma's arm, which was a pretty amazing feat, considering she was on a bicycle and had a to-go box of ramen from her store, the Nekohaten, in her hands. 

"Oh, uh, well..." Ranma was trying to think of an easy way to say this. "No, not right now, Shampoo, I'm in a hurry."

This was the wrong thing to say. Shampoo's eyes darkened angrily "What you saying, Ranma? Shampoo not good enough for you?" 

Ranma started to back up. "N-n-no! I mean, yes, no, wait..."

He was saved by one of his other problems. "Oh, Ranma-honey, wait up!"

Ranma turned to see Ukyo running up, waving. Her large spatula was tucked behind her. She was wearing her okinomiyaki chef's outfit, as usual.

As far as Ranma was concerned, this was too, too much. "Uh, sorry, I gotta go!" He leaped past her to a rooftop behind her. As he ran away, he heard the two girls arguing fighting. "Whew!" He wiped his brow. 

Then he heard Ryoga running on the ground, shouting. "Curse you, Saotome!" Ranma decided he had had way to much happen already, and it wasn't even four o'clock yet!" 

"I am SO out of here!" Ranma said, and bounced off of Ryoga's head to the rooftops where he made his escape.

Back at the Tendou's, Akane sat up from her short nap. "That feels better." She muttered as she ran a hand through her short hair. What had Ranma been thinking, landing on her like that? She looked up at the ceiling where Ranma had fallen through a weakened part of the structure... into her bedroom, Akane did NOT enjoy being used as a landing pad by an annoying baka who then had the nerve to make fun of her! And she had been coming out to bring him some hot water too.

Akane bristled. To make matters worse, P-chan had disappeared sometime while she was taking a nap. He had probably been nervous by Ranma and Ryoga making such a fuss. 

Then she smirked in self-satisfaction as she remembered the feel of impact as she had whacked Ranma on the head with her mallet, sending him into orbit. Ryoga had chased Ranma out, so Akane had brushed the roof chunks off of her bed and decided to take a nap.

She looked up at the hole in her ceiling thoughtfully. "Maybe I should see about putting in a skylight, it IS awfully nice to be awakened to sunshine." Then a scowl darkened her features. "But sooner or later, it would be broken by that Baka and his constant fighting. Or a pervert would decide to watch me sleep, or worse." She shuddered at the thought of Kunou pounding on the glass, crying out, "My Akane, such beauty!"

"Okay, I should talk to Nabiki about getting that fixed before it rains." As she said that, fate decided that was its cue and sent dark clouds to cover Nerima. "Maybe I should keep my mouth shut next time," Akane told herself as she stood up. She did a few limbering exercises to wake herself up, then headed downstairs where Nabiki was sure to be. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that it would be a good idea to get the ceiling fixed as soon as possible. No way was she going to take any chances by changing in her own room until the ceiling was repaired. 

She told Nabiki about her ceiling when she got downstairs for breakfast. Nabiki looked up from where she was balancing the Tendou's finances. "Oh, honestly. You would think that they would be more careful by now." Then she got this shrewd look in her eyes. "And I know how to make them understand how important it is that they do."

Akane always did have a hard time following her sister when she got into one of her schemes. "How are you going to do that, Nabiki?" When Nabiki got that look in her eyes, it always meant something unpleasant for someone.

Nabiki gave her a patient smile. "Don't worry, Akane. I have it under control."

Kasumi chose that moment to enter the room with her basket in her hand from her shopping. As she sat it down she looked around with typical Kasumi blankness and asked, "Where's Ranma? I thought he would be home from school by now."

"Oh, he's around somewhere." Nabiki said dryly, with a sidelong glance at Akane.

"Who cares about that baka, anyway?" Akane mumbled, as she tried to cover up in her mind the skip her heart gave every time someone mentioned Ranma's name.

Genma and Soun came in from their weekly evening trip to the public baths. Along their way, Genma had apparently been caught in a rainstorm because he had become a panda.

"Oh, Mr. Saotome, let me get you some hot water." Kasumi left the room.

Akane stared at him, something tickling the back of her mind. "Dad, is it raining?" She looked outside to answer her own question. A downpour was indeed in effect. "OH NO! My room!" She ran upstairs to try to save her bed from being too soaked.

"Nabiki, dear, where's Ranma?" Soun asked, sitting down to eat his breakfast.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll turn up soon." Nabiki smirked. "In fact, I think I hear him now."

Ranma-chan entered the room a moment later, soaked to the bone and grumbling about a stupid tomboy, and a stupid pig, and a stupid curse.

"Oh my, you really shouldn't stay outside when it's raining, Ranma, you might catch a cold." Kasumi, ever the one for understatement, told Ranma as she brought Genma-panda a kettle of hot water.

"I'm gonna take a bath," Ranma-chan answered, wringing out her shirt in disgust.

"Oh, Ranma, after you're finished, I have a little something I need to talk to you about." Nabiki called up after her, as she picked up her chopsticks to eat.

"Can't wait," Ranma-chan said sarcastically over her shoulder.

"I know I can't," Nabiki called back.

"What has my ingrate of a son done now?" Asked Genma as he shoveled down his food in a blur.

"He's just found himself a new after-school job," Nabiki said cryptically.

*--*

Akane decided to go to the dojo to put in some stress-relieving practice. She was working on beating up the dummy that bore a resemblance to her fiancee' when Nabiki entered the dojo.

"Ah, working off your aggression on a poor defenseless dummy? Why not do arts and crafts like a normal person?"

"Nobody. (WHACK) Ever. (WHACK) Said. (WHACK) I was normal. (WHACK WHACK WHACK). Akane punctuated every word with a blow to the dummy.

"Anyway, the hole in your ceiling should be fixed by this afternoon."

Akane stopped to look at her sister. "Oh, Nabiki. We can't afford a repairman."

Nabiki smirked. "Who said anything about a repairman? Ranma's fixing it."

"Ranma? Nabiki, why?"

"He's the one who broke it, he fixes it. I thought it would remind him that actions have consequences. And it saves us money on labor."

"Oh." Ranma was fixing the roof? Over her bedroom? The thought made her heart start pounding. To drive the thought out, she pounded the dummy into sawdust.

"Did you have a muscle spasm, Akane?" Nabiki asked, arching an eyebrow.

"He'd better not mess up the roof." Akane growled, eye twitching.

Ranma sneezed.

I guess Kasumi was right, He thought, looking up at the sky. For a day that had a sudden downpour, it really did turn out to be beautiful. "Too bad I have to spend it fixing this stupid roof. It was all Ryoga's fault, anyway, with that stupid umbrella."

Ranma picked up the hammer and mimicked Ryoga. "'Ranma, how dare you sneak into Akane's room, you pervert.'" He growled. "Me? He's the one who turns into a pig just so he can crawl into bed with Akane! Stupid tomboy. Why won't she ever let me explain instead of pounding me all the time." He went back to work, grumbling about stupid tomboys, stupid pigs, and stupid curses... again.

* * *

Akane sat under the tree in the Tendou yard watching Ranma work. It was actually a hot day and he had taken off his shirt. She pretended she wasn't noticing how nice his muscles were. She played with the grass with her feet, feeling the blades between her toes. She made sure the skirt of her favorite yellow dress was tucked under her knees. He'd better do a good job, she thought, I don't want to get soaked in the middle of the night because that baka forgot a crack or something.

She sighed and put her chin on her knees. What did I do to deserve this? She thought to herself. My fiancee' turns into a girl, not to mention the fact he has, like, a thousand OTHER fiancee's, and it seems he's cursed to make an enemy of everybody we ever meet. Not to mention the fact that he has this tendency to drag me into all his fights. And THEN, he makes fun of me. She sighed. Oh, Ranma. She looked up to where he was hammering a shingle on, her face turning pink.

"Akane, will you take some lemonade up to Ranma?" Kasumi asked, sitting a tray down next to her sister. She stood up and brushed her hair back. "Oh, I hope he doesn't have to work all day. It would be a shame to spend such a beautiful Friday evening fixing a roof." She looked at Akane and smiled such a sweet smile that the retort Akane was about to make about how if Ranma didn't want to work all day he shouldn't have been breaking stuff that would need fixing.

"You will take him some refreshments, won't you?"

"Sure, Kasumi." Akane sighed, standing up.

Ranma set down his hammer when he heard someone coming up the ladder. Akane's head poked up from the side.

"Oh, hey, Akane." He sat down and wiped the sweat from his chest with a towel.

Akane busied herself by concentrating on climbing onto the rooftop without her skirt blowing up. She almost lost her balance and dropped the tray, but a swift hand grabbed the tray with one hand and steadied her with the other. She looked up as she realized that Ranma was holding her to his bare chest. "Jeez, Akane, a clumsy tomboy like you shouldn't be trying to climb and carry something at the same time." 

As Akane looked up at him to chew him out, she noticed the way his face was white with fear. He was worried about me? Then she realized how close her face was to his and pulled away. "Next time I'll just let you dehydrate, then," she snapped, embarrassed. She started to climb down in a huff when Ranma's voice stopped her.

"So, uh, wanna keep me company while I take a break?" She looked back at him. He had a half smile. "I mean, there's two cups and everything."

"Okay." She sat down next to him and picked up the glass of lemonade he had poured for her. She knew better than to thank him, because he would have probably said something about how the only reason he did it was because he was afraid she would break the pitcher. Her face flushed when she thought about it.

"Akane?"

"What?" Akane kept herself from snapping by sheer will alone.

"I'm sorry about the hole in your roof." He kept himself from explaining that it was Ryoga's fault because he knew that even though it was the truth, she would just get mad at him again.

"Um, it's okay. I'm sorry you have to fix it on such a beautiful day." She was surprised at herself for saying that. Why am I being so nice to HIM all of a sudden? She looked down at the cup in her hand, as if looking for answers.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

Akane gave him a look of surprise. "Did Ryoga give you a concussion or something?"

Ranma glared at her. "Look, I really AM sorry. I wish you'd believe me. I was just mad at Ryoga. Not you."

Akane looked away. "I, it's okay, I guess."

"Um, Akane, do you want... that is, if you're not busy or nothin', I mean- do you wanna go get an ice cream or somethin'? After I'm done?"

"Ranma, you don't have to do this."

"I know I don't. I... just wanted to get some ice cream and I wondered if you wanted to go with me."

Ranma was embarrassed, but he was rewarded by Akane's brilliant smile. "Sure, Ranma."

Ranma threw back his head and downed the rest of the lemonade. "In that case, I'd better try to get this done before it gets too late." He paused and looked at Akane. "Do you need any help getting down or anything?"

Before Akane could think that Ranma was being kind, he added, "Because just my luck, you'd fall down and hurt yourself, and Mr. Tendou would KILL me."

"Thanks for your concern, Ranma, but I'm fine on my own," Akane replied tersely, jerking her body towards the ladder. At that moment, another loose shingle that happened to be under Akane's foot chose to go crashing down. Akane tried to grab onto Ranma before she went flying.

She saw the ground below her, but before she could sail over the edge, Ranma's strong hand grabbed onto her wrist. He hauled her back up. "See what I mean, Akane? You get all mad and you don't pay attention."

"Oh? So it's all MY fault I almost broke my neck?" Her face was red from humiliation and fear.

"No, that's NOT what I'm saying!" Ranma started to argue then stopped himself. "Awe, forget it. Let me help you down. I, and I stress 'I', don't want you to get hurt."

"Ranma... thank you." Akane didn't want to argue either. But she was trying not to think about how she could feel Ranma's muscle's moving against her as he helped her down.

"Um, yeah." Ranma put his hand behind his head and looked away. "So, I guess I'll see you in a little while." He climbed back up and resumed working.

Akane put her hand to her chest, trying to calm her fast-beating heart.

Part Two: Cat's Meow

"Oh no, there you go,

Looked away and missed the show,

Not much else to blame but wishful thinking.

Oh yeah fooled again,

Don't know how and I don't know when,

Not much else to say but wishful thinking.

-Duncan Sheik "Wishful Thinking"

Ranma Saotome wasn't really sure what he was doing. He had not gotten a good night's sleep due to his and Ryouga's fight, which had left him to hang from a tree limb all night. Ranma didn't really understand why he had gotten so mad at Ryoga that night before bed. Ranma and Ryouga had actually been getting along when Ryoga had said something to screw everything up.

Flashback

"I know that Akane's heart is pure. She has nothing but kindness in her. She took ME in."

"She took P-chan in." Ranma grumbled. That irked him for some reason.

"She cares for me." Ryouga had insisted.

"She likes the pig, P-chan," Ranma snapped. The thought of Akane snuggling up to that idiot made him sick. If it weren't for the fact that he had made a promise not to reveal Ryoga's curse, he would have outed the sicko a long time ago.

"At least I'm not called 'Baka'," Ryouga replied smugly, before sauntering off to find a bucket of cold water, leaving Ranma seething quietly to himself. Which had lead up to him sneaking into Akane's room to beat the crap out of the pig-boy. Which had also lead up to hanging out of a tree after being booted into the stratosphere.

End Flashback

That made him think it was going to be a terrible day, especially since Nabiki had accosted him to fix the roof, never mind that it wasn't his fault to begin with. But it had been such a nice day, and nobody had bothered him the entire time he had been working, he had had time to think. Then Akane had brought him some lemonade, and he had somehow found a way to get her to go get ice cream with him that afternoon. Which he was headed up to her room to remind her of.

Ranma knocked on Akane's door. "Hey, Akane, you still wanna go?" he asked, then his voice was stuck in his throat as she opened the door. She was wearing the new dress she had bought on her birthday, a red dress that had a heart-shaped top that came down in a flared out skirt. She was even wearing a little make-up. She stood there, looking as if she half expected Ranma to laugh at her.

Ranma's mouth opened and closed. "I-uh-that is, you-uh- ready to go?" he managed to get out. He scratched the back of his head and was secretly glad he had taken a shower and put on his good white Chinese shirt.

"Sure, Ranma." She started to close her door when Ranma's eyes suddenly bulged and he shoved her in her room and shut the door behind himself.

"Ranma, what in the WORLD are you doing?" Akane asked, about to get angry.

"Listen Akane, don't get mad. I just realized, look," he brushed his bangs up off his forehead and said, "do you REALLY want to try to go downstairs and out the front door in front of our dads?"

Akane closed her mouth and pictured the scene (Genma-panda shoving Ranma toward Akane with a sign stating 'GO FOR IT!' and Soun wailing about how their two families would be joined...) "You're right," she admitted. "So, how are we going to get out of here?"

Ranma smirked and swooped Akane up in his arms. "How else do you think?" He asked, before leaping out the window with Akane hanging on for dear life.

*--* 

Ranma and Akane sat at a table in the back, trying to be inconspicuous. Neither of them wanted any unwanted interruptions, such as Kunou or Ryouga or Kodachi. They were trying to get along for once. Ranma had even stayed a boy to eat his ice cream, though he usually said that guys shouldn't eat ice cream out like that. He figured he could beat anyone who called him 'sissy', so it didn't matter.

Surprisingly, they were succeeding. "So, Akane, what classes are you wanting to take this fall?" Ranma asked her, keeping to safe subjects.

"Oh, I want to take Theatre, definitely. And maybe public speaking."

"Public speaking? That sounds kinda boring." Ranma screwed up his nose.

"No, silly," Akane answered. "I want to take it to help with performing. You know, to project my voice well?"

"That does make sense." Ranma admitted. "I'm going to take gymnastics."

"That sounds good. I mean, it's something you've shown you could be great at if you were able to practice it."

"Yeah, I'm gonna try it as a guy this time though. No WAY is anybody gonna talk me into competing against St. Hebereke again." He shuddered at the memory.

Akane laughed. Ranma noticed how her eyes shined when she smiled. He felt his face flush.

"Ranchan, how's it going?" Ukyo plopped herself down next to Ranma. "Ohh, that parfait looks good, can I have a bite?" and then she proceeded to wolf down Ranma's parfait.

Ranma glanced at Akane in defeat, but Akane wasn't looking at him. She had walled of her emotions like someone had flipped a switch off inside her. She was eating her own parfait silently. I KNEW it was too good to be true, Akane thought to herself, shoveling a bite into her mouth. Here we go again. 'Oh Ranchan, you're soo wonderful. Let me, your CUTE fiancée, make you some okinomiyaki. Akane felt her heart sink. Why did everything have to be so hard?

Ranma was feeling a similar emotion. While he was always happy to see his best friend, she always spoiled it by bringing up the fiancee' crap. Ranma had no intention of marrying her, but he didn't want to hurt their friendship by shooting her down. It wasn't like he had a million friends or anything. He had to hold onto the few he had.

"Um, Ukyo, it's good to see you and all, but..." Ranma started to say, but Ukyo cut him off.

"So, Ranma, did you check out the new curriculum for next year? I'm thinking about taking gymnastics, since it would help with my martial arts. Didn't you compete against St. Hebereke last year? You could give me a few pointers and help me with my technique." Ukyo was saying all this in a rush.

That BITCH, Akane realized. She knows that Ranma was about to blow her off, and she's trying to distract him. The thought made her grit her teeth in anger.

"Sure, okay," Ranma said, relieved that so far there was no mention of the 'f' word.

Akane saw the triumphant glance Ukyo gave her. Her hands clenched into fists. Gotta keep my temper. I can't let her know she's upsetting me so much. I can't let Ranma know I hate his best friend. It would crush him.

"Look, Ukyo, I'm sorry to rush off, but Akane and I were going to go... to Dr. Tofu's for Kasumi. It's a family thing," he added before she could invite herself along. "I'll come by to see you tomorrow, okay?" And before she could protest, Ranma grabbed Akane's hand and dragged her away.

When they were outside and about a block away, Akane asked Ranma tentatively, "Um, Ranma? Why did we leave so suddenly?"

Ranma stopped and turned to face her, but shyness overcame him and he looked at the ground, clasping his hands together and poking his index fingers at each other. "Look, I knew that if I didn't, Ukyo would just stick around all night, and I didn't want you and me to fight about it."

Akane felt her heart skip. She started to protest, "Look, I know you'd rather hang out with Ukyo..."

"Akane, don't, okay? I said I wanted to take you out for ice cream, didn't I?" Ranma seemed pissed at Akane for some reason. "Did anybody trick me into it? Force me? No. I asked you 'cause I wanted to. Now, if you don't wanna, then say so, and we'll go home. Jeez," he muttered. "You don't have much faith in me, do ya?"

Akane felt sorry she'd said anything. "Ranma, no, it's not that..." she faltered. "Let's just try to have a good time, okay?"

Ranma finally faced Akane. He seemed determined. He nodded. "So, I guess ice cream is out. What else would you wanna do?"

"How about a movie?" Akane asked, tentatively. She knew there was a new American movie out he wanted to see. It was called "The Crow". He had read all about the movie after he had learned that the legendary Bruce Lee's son Brandon had been killed while making it. He was anxious to see it. After checking out some of the articles, Akane had thought it sounded kind of neat, but she hadn't thought she would get to see it.

"You mean it? All right!" Ranma was stoked. He grabbed her hand and dragged her down the sidewalk in the direction of the Movie Theater.

Two Hours Later

"Man, what a waste." Ranma was downhearted.

Akane wiped her eyes discretely, hoping she hadn't smeared her make-up while crying. "You didn't like it?" She was shocked.

"No, the movie was awesome!" He shook his head sadly. "It's just, all that potential. Brandon could have been as good as his dad. But now there's no way that'll ever happen."

Akane patted his arm. "I know."

He gave her a grateful look. That was when she realized that his eyes were wet too.

She opened her mouth to ask where he wanted to go next when they were interrupted again.

"Nihau, airen! Is tonight not beautiful? Ranma want to take Shampoo out on date?" The purple-haired vixen attached herself to Ranma's side. 

Akane felt a muscle in her eye spasm. "Don't mind ME, Ranma. I'm sure you'll have fun." She folded her arms and glanced pointedly away.

Shampoo glanced over at Ranma. "Ranma, what Violent Girl doing here?"

"Um, Shampoo, now really isn't the time." Ranma said, looking as if he'd rather be far, far away. Maybe in another galaxy or something.

"Ranma want Shampoo to make too-too delicious ramen for airen?" She glanced back at Akane with a wicked glint in her eyes.

Akane was furious. Shampoo might play stupid, but she knows exactly what she's doing. She fought the urge to douse them both with water and watch girl-Ranma run away screaming from Shampoo-cat. But then Shampoo would win. She not only wanted Ranma for herself, she would be very pleased to make Ranma and Akane fight again.

She was saved by making any decisions. As Ranma was trying to pry Shampoo off of him, Mousse came bounding up. "Shampoo, my love, I'm here!" He grabbed hold of Akane, because he had his glasses on top of his head. Akane tried to pry him off of her when Ranma's elbow came down on Mousse's head. Mousse landed on the ground, out cold. Shampoo was standing behind Ranma with her hands over her mouth in shock, shrieking "Aiya!"

Akane looked wide-eyed at Ranma, who looked down disbelievingly at the unconscious Mousse. "I-I didn't mean to. I mean, I know he thought you were Shampoo, but..." He looked at Akane with dawning comprehension in his eyes. "I just couldn't stand the thought of him touching you like that."

They stood there for a moment, not moving. It was like there was no one else around. No sound. Then Shampoo clamped onto Ranma again. "Oh, Ranma, you do this for Shampoo, yes?" she asked desperately.

Ranma and Akane broke gazes. "No, Shampoo, I didn't. Will you PLEASE get off of me?"

"What airen saying? Shampoo no understand."

Akane had had enough. "He means take a hike, you purple-haired bimbo," Akane snapped. She dropped herself into a defensive posture, even in her new dress.

Shampoo cracked her knuckles and assumed an attack formation. "It look like Shampoo have to teach stubborn tomboy a lesson. Then she know better to mess with other woman's husband." She smirked.

Akane's battle aura came into being. "All RIGHT, THAT'S IT! I'LL KILL YOU!" She charged.

Shampoo blocked Akane's first kick and tried to counter with a punch. Akane surprised everyone by nimbly sidestepping and caught Shampoo's fist in her hands. Shampoo struggled to get her hand free, but if there was one thing that Akane was good at, it was brute strength. The two girls were at a standstill.

"Aiya! Violent Girl let go of Shampoo's hand!" The Amazon insisted, starting to sweat.

"If Shampoo want loose, then Shampoo should get her own self free," Akane snarled back.

Watching all this, with a nervous twitch apparent in his eye, Ranma knew he had to do something. She had come a long way in her training than when they had first met, so Akane could handle herself in a fair fight. But he knew that Shampoo rarely fought fair when she was fighting for her 'airen'. I gotta get Akane out of here before she kills herself, he thought.

Nodding slightly, he grabbed Akane and dashed off with Akane shouting back at the Amazon, "Bring it ON, you HUSSY!"

Ranma concentrated on getting Akane as far away as he could before she could turn on him. "Wait a sec, Akane."

"Ranma, put me down! I had her!"

"Akane, chill, okay?" Ranma grabbed her shoulders and gave them a shake to calm her down before she attacked him. Ranma had chose to stop on a rooftop a short ways away from their confrontation with Shampoo.

"Ranma, I can handle myself. Why won't you stop interfering?" She pulled herself away in anger and embarrassment. She looked down at her arms and realized she was rubbing her arms where Ranma had held them.

"I-uh-" Ranma thought desperately. What can I say without her getting' all mad? "I didn't want you to ruin your new dress." His face colored again.

Akane stared blankly at him, unsure of what he meant.

Since he had went that far, he might as well go all the way. "I mean, it looks so cute on you, and all, I, uh, didn't want it to get ruined or nothin'."

Ranma? Akane asked silently.

Ranma met her gaze unabashedly. "Red is pretty cute on you, ya know."

"Is this a trick?" she accused shakily.

"Ah, forget it. Believe me or not, but I know you heard me." Ranma helped Akane down and they resumed their walk.

Part Three: Maybe Someday

"When you gonna make up your mind?

When you gonna love you as much as I do?

When you gonna make up your mind?

'Cause things are gonna change so fast,

All the white horses are still in bed,

I tell you that I always want you near

You say that things change, my dear."

-Tori Amos 'Winter'

Nabiki looked into the kitchen where Kasumi was washing the dinner dishes. "Kasumi, have you seen Ranma or Akane?" Neither of them had been home for dinner.

"They went out a few hours ago," Kasumi answered cheerfully.

"Really? Did someone put a gun to their heads?" Nabiki asked sarcastically.

Kasumi turned to give her sister a disapproving look. "Now, Nabiki, that's not nice."

"But Kasumi? Ranma and Akane are going out on date? That's an natural disaster waiting to happen."

"I think they've been getting along very well lately." Kasumi turned back to her dishes.

Nabiki left the room, muttering, "Yeah, right. We're talking about Ranma and Akane? Getting along? That'll be the day..."

Somewhere in Nerima

Akane and Ranma both sneezed simultaneously. They were walking along the park quietly, neither of them wanting to go home yet. "Jeez, I hope you ain't catching a cold or nothin'."

"No, I think it was just dust or something." Akane took a deep breath. "Ranma, can I ask you something?"

Ranma glanced at Akane, who was pointedly NOT looking at him. "Sure, Akane. What's on your mind?"

"Well, that is, do you... I mean-" her face flaming, she spat out in a rush, "Do-you-really-like-being-my-fiancee?" 

"What do you mean?" His face was red now.

"Um," she stuttered, don't back down now, Akane, she told herself. "I mean, you don't hate me, do you?"

"What gave you an idea like THAT?" Ranma stopped and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Y-you," she glanced up at him before ducking her head again. "I've heard you say, you didn't ask for any of this. Does that mean you don't want it... this? You and me, I mean?"

"Akane?" He led her to a bench and sat her down. "You know I'm not good at any of this stuff. Let me tell you a story.

"It's about this little kid, you see? He and his dad took off on a training trip about the same time he was learning to talk and stuff. He never really had a chance to spend a lotta time with his mom. When he and his pop were on the road, he cried a lot for her. He missed her a lot." Ranma looked like he was about to cry himself.

"Anyway, they never really spent a much time ANYWHERE. His dad was training him to become the best martial artist, see? So he'd be the heir to the family school of fighting. And that's all the boy knew.

"He made one friend the entire time he was traveling. One. Another little boy, or so he thought. But it was really a little girl his dad was trying to foist him off on for his own gain. But the kid didn't know any of that.

"As he got older, he realized how his dad was. His pop didn't care that much about his son. He wanted him to be a great martial artist, but as for really caring for him, nah. He never showed that he felt any real concern over his own son's well being.

"It's like, okay, you know how when you're little, and your parents are like, gods. Perfect, you understand?" Akane nodded, remembering that feeling. "Well, the kid realized soon that his pop was anything but perfect.

"And it hurt. The kid had NO stability, no mom, no friends, and then he goes to this cursed spring, and his life is totally turned upside down. He's cursed to turn into a girl in one of the wettest parts of the world. The kid, who had been taught his whole life that he had to be a man among men, turning into a girl if he so much as spills a glass of cold water on himself. And it was all his father's fault.

"Then he gets dragged to this Amazon village, where he unknowingly screwed up majorly by beating this big shot Amazon chick. And she starts chasing the two trying to kill the kid." Ranma's jaw was clenched. Akane felt her throat tighten in sympathy. Poor Ranma, she thought to herself. She remembered teasing him that he should be glad that a cute girl like Shampoo was chasing after him, and felt ashamed.

"And after a life like this, his pop tells him that his future was not his decision. The man who had done nothing but screw his life up had already picked out his wife for him. It was the last straw."

Ranma looked at Akane with his eyes strangely glinting, like he was about to cry. He spoke softer. "He gets to Nerima, and he meets this girl. This one girl who showed him more kindness in one minute than anyone else had ever shown him in an entire lifetime, even if you jumbled it all together. She was the kid's first REAL friend. Then his curse screws it up. And everybody tells him, you can't be friends with her, you gotta marry her, whether you like it or not. No getting to know her, you can do that after the ceremony." Ranma looked down, and Akane had to lean to hear what he was saying next. "And, she-you, I mean, acted like it was the most horrible thing for you. Like you hated me. My friend was now looking at me like I was pond scum or something. And everybody was trying to push us together. I thought I would never like you. I didn't WANT to like you at all."

Akane sucked in her breath in pain. But she had felt the same way.

"And then everybody started popping up. Kunou, Ryoga, Shampoo, Ukyo, Mousse, Kodachi, it was like, they were all trying to pull me away from you. And that made me mad, too. They don't even KNOW me, and they're all trying to tell me what's best for me. Trying to trick me into doing what they want me to do. Everybody except one person." There was something on his cheek that caught the light of the street lamp. Akane's heart thumped as she realized that Ranma was crying.

"Akane, even though we fight all the time, and we don't always understand each other, we talk better than anybody I've ever known. It makes me crazy anytime Ryouga or Kunou makes passes at you. And you gotta know I don't like Ukyo or Shampoo or Kodachi in any way more than friendship. I'm just, not good at intentionally hurting people. Even though, it seems like I do that to you often enough."

He looked at Akane again. His eyes were focused, determined. "I realized something, for once, my Pop actually did something right. He led me to you."

Akane couldn't say anything. Her mind was in chaos. Part of her was thinking, Oh, NOW what do I do? I can't BELIEVE this! But most of her was just saying, YES! YES! YES!

"Akane, like I said before, I know I'm not good at this stuff. But I can say this, if there's anything I could ever want, anywhere I could ever be I think this would be it, right now, you and me, sitting here on a bench, talking. This is what I've wanted. It's what I choose."

"Oh, Ranma..." Akane whispered. "I-I choose this, too."

And neither of them spoke for a little while. There was nothing else to say really, which would not spoil the moment. They just let everything sink in, let themselves realize that everything was about to change. 

Elsewhere in Nerima...

Ryoga Hibiki stared up at the sky from where he sat alone on someone's roof and sighed a heavy sigh. "Oh, dear Akane, how I long to be the one you love." Then his face became a grimace, and he raised a fist toward the heavens in defiance. "And yet, it's that cursed Ranma who holds your heart." His face grew sad again, and he let the tears flow freely. "All I ever will be to you is your pet P-chan. The only time you ever take me in your confidence, is when I have a snout!" He stood and hoisted his backpack. "I bid you farewell. For if I cannot be the one you love, I can't bear to see you with anyone else!"

He leaped off the roof onto the pavement below. The instant his feet touched the ground, a van drove by and hit a puddle that hadn't dried from the rain earlier that day. In other words, instant pork chops. The pig squealed in sorrow.

Ranma and Akane happened by at that moment. "Oh, look! It's P-chan!" Akane happily picked up her pet. "Where'd you run off to?"

"Probably went off to pick a fight," Ranma grumbled to himself. He couldn't believe it. He had just, not an hour before, poured his heart out, told Akane everything he had kept bottled up inside his entire life, and that stupid PIG shows up and ruins it! He physically restrained himself from grabbing P-chan out of Akane's hands and booting him into orbit.

"So, Ranma, I wanted to tell you something."

Ranma brought himself out of his self-pitying funk to look at her.

Akane smiled at him. He felt himself weaken. "I had a really great time tonight. Thank you."

Ranma could not resist a smirk at Ryoga-P-chan. "So did I, Akane. We should try to do it again."

P-chan growled.

"P-chan, bad piggy! Ranma's being nice!"

P-chan's eyes began to water.

Ranma took pity on the small black piglet. "You ain't got nuthin' to worry about, P-chan."

Akane gave Ranma a weird look. "Ranma, are you talking to P-chan?"

"No."

"Good. I was about to think this was an 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' moment."

"They couldn't even get close to my good looks." Ranma put his hands behind his head.

Instead of retorting, Akane started laughing. After a moment, Ranma joined her. And they joked around the rest of the way home.


End file.
